The Salafi Roots of Taqlīd and Madhhab Adherence

This work, entitled “The Salafi Roots of Taqlīd and Madhhab Adherence,” is a purposeful scholarly study that addresses the fundamental origins of sectarian affiliation (madhhabism) and legal conformity (taqlīd). It investigates the method by which Muslims adhered to the Sharīʿah and its sources during the period preceding the emergence of the well-known jurisprudential schools. The vast majority of Muslims in the Prophet’s lifetime (peace be upon him) and up to the rise of the established schools of law were those who could not independently derive legal rulings directly from the foundational sources of legislation without referring to the scholars and jurists qualified for ijtihād (independent reasoning). Only a few among them possessed such scholarly competence. Accordingly, this study seeks to trace textual evidence and statements from scholars of the first three generations that depict and convey the authentic picture of how adherence to the Qurʾān and the Sunnah was practiced and how legal rulings were obtained. Through these texts and reports, it becomes clear that the phenomenon of taqlīd—which later prevailed after the institutionalization of the legal schools—actually began during the era of the Companions, and continued to evolve and mature until it eventually stabilized in the fully developed and widespread forms of taqlīd and madhhab adherence known in later centuries